McAnuff's plot focused on the young artist Yoshimi's struggle to conquer a deadly disease, reimagining it at times as a fantastical battle against malevolent "robot" cells in her body.

In some cases, it proved a bit too much of a reach - as with the number "The Gash," whose inclusion required a confusing plot machination (without much payoff) involving Yoshimi accidentally wounding a robot that was trying to help her. (Apparently.)

Almost any brand-new musical is also likely still to be working out matters of rhythm, pacing and flow. On second viewing, it felt as though "Yoshimi" started off at a too-brisk clip in terms of story (we've barely met Yoshimi before she's collapsing from her illness) coupled with a too-breezy feel in terms of tone (the early number "Mr. Ambulance Driver" also suffers from somewhat static staging).

And because the songs obviously weren't written with these precise characters in mind (or to be paired with an explicit story, for that matter), what makes them tick ultimately remains a bit of a mystery.

But what "Yoshimi" does best becomes clear in the second act; the show widens its scope and becomes a kind of extended tone poem, a bittersweet and affecting acknowledgment and embrace of life in all its brevity and beauty.

The number "All We Have is Now" captures that meditative perspective movingly - and is enough to make you hope that the next "now" for this musical arrives very soon.